China weakness hurts Intercontinental Hotels Group revenue

The Intercontinental Hotels Group has revealed a decline in hotel occupancy rates as it continues its aggressive expansion plans.

The firm, which owns Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and Kimpton Hotels, said it had added 12,000 new rooms in the three months to end of March, with another 24,000 to come soon. 

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It is the fastest pace at which the group has added rooms in 12 years. 

In its update on Friday, it also said its revenue per available room had grown 0.3 per cent for the same period last year, while its occupancy rates were down 0.2 per cent. 

There was a particularly decrease in occupancy in the US, with two-thirds of the company's hotel rooms based in the Americas.

To counter the slowing growth there, the hotel group said it wanted to expand its reach into Asia and claimed it had opened 18 hotels and signed another 52 in Greater China this quarter.

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So far there has been no significant growth in China, but there was growth in Latin America and the Caribbean, which was up 10 per cent thanks to strong showings from Colombia, Brazil and Argentina in particular.

Room revenue was also down three per cent in France, with the company apportioning some blame to the social unrest in Paris over recent months.